James Bowthorpe is the round-the-world champion cyclist who beat the previous record by an epic 20 days. This summer he found himself in the isolated Norwegian countryside in the middle of a “white” night with director Antony Crook and stylist Glenn Kitson for Crook's film 30 Century Man. "We were so far north the sun never set. I wanted the film to somehow give a sense of what James had achieved and the idea of him being alone, somewhere wild and isolated,” says Crook, who was carrying new demos by Scottish alt-rockers Mogwai at the time of filming. Listening to “How to Be a Werewolf” on repeat while driving around looking for shoot locations, he says, seemed to fit perfectly with the landscape. When Mogwai saw the footage, the group decided to remix the song, tailor-making a version exclusively for the film. The result spectacularly captures the notion of circumnavigating the earth. “We found the perfect backdrop to tell this story of somebody who points his bike at the horizon and then doesn't stop pedaling. It's a film about never giving up,” says Crook.(nowness.com)

Mogwai have hardly ever been as accessible as they are on Hardcore…. Only three of the 10 songs break the six-minute mark and when they do, you’ll hardly notice. The vocoded lyrics and steady click-beat of album highlight “Mexican Grand Prix”, for instance, are so enrapturing that the song glides on and on with ease. Track six, “Letters to the Metro”, sees Mogwai take a page from Godspeed’s well-worn book, painting about as movingly evocative a picture as could possibly be put together in just under five minutes. The dirge-like funeral march of “Too Raging to Cheers” again instantly calls to mind Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s signature movie score-like musical quality, but with more than enough of Mogwai’s guitar-oriented sound to avoid sounding too imitative.There’s more than enough vintage Mogwai to go around, however. The piano and guitars on album closer “You’re Lionel Ritchie” (You see? The aforementioned British humor is well-intact) build and swirl around perilously for the better part of the track before, following a signature Mogwai 10-second rest, the full band—roaring guitars, drums and all—come crashing in precisely at four minutes in. The quintet keep things in high gear for another four and a half minutes before the wash of sound finally dies down.As far as faults go, though, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is pretty spotless. The band proves they’re as skilled as ever when it comes to entertaining with just their instruments. If you can manage to listen past the lack of conventional song structures and vocals, Hardcore… will likely be a very pleasant listen. It’s a striking snapshot of a band on top of their ever-evolving game, with a fair amount of surprises thrown in for good measure.